The Aam Aadmi Party’s Maharashtra unit on Sunday announced setting up of a ‘seed fund’ to help children of the farmers who committed suicide this year, by sponsoring their education till class XII.

The AAP unit office-bearers took the decision before embarking on a seven-day mass contact programme on Sunday for farmers and farm labourers in Marathwada and Vidarbha regions that would conclude on May 24 at Sindkhed Raja, near Jalna, which is the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mother Jijabai.

“We are not in power, so we discussed the best way to help the farmers and their families. So, we decided to sponsor the education upto class XII of the children of deceased farmers,” AAP state unit’s executive committee member Ravi Srivastav said.

“Since the starting of this year, 622 farmers in the state have ended their lives in desperation. Our party feels that their children deserve better opportunities to live, hence we decided to help in this way,” he said.

The initial process to collect fund for the purpose has begun and the party would solicit the help of common people also to contribute to the coffer, he said.

AAP volunteers have also planned to explore alternative solutions to the problems of farmers through extensive discussions with them about supplementary sources of income, in order to end the agrarian crisis and farmers’ suicides, he said.